One week after the City Council amended the budget to appease Lubbock pool-goers, the water commission made recommendations to alleviate other concerns regarding drought restrictions.

One week after the City Council amended the budget to appease Lubbock pool-goers, the water commission made recommendations to alleviate other concerns regarding drought restrictions.

Lubbock will implement Stage 2 drought restrictions April 1, forbidding any filling of pools and hot tubs until Sept. 30.

However, the Water Advisory Commission recommended Thursday the city postpone any pool-related restrictions until more severe drought conditions.

The proposed ordinance change — which has to pass two readings by the council in March to take effect — would allow all filling and draining of pools, public and private, to occur year-round during Stage 2 restrictions.

The ordinance would make it so filling and draining of pools and hot tubs is forbidden under Stage 3 restrictions, but topping off the pools would be allowed for those filled before April 1.

City Councilwoman Karen Gibson was present at the commission meeting and largely spearheaded the effort to get the pool wording moved from Stage 2 to Stage 3.

She said she has heard from many businesses about how they would be affected by the banishment of pool and hot tub filling.

David DuPont, owner of Jacuzzi Hot Tubs and Leisure Pools, said the banning of filling all hot tubs did not make sense to him.

He said a normal hot tub holds about 350 gallons of water, and the water needs to be drained and refilled only every six months to one year.

“Your average bathtub is about 70 gallons. Average hot tub is about 350 gallons,” he said. “There’s not water restrictions on bathing, so in theory, if a person takes a bath five times, they’re filling up their hot tub.”

Marsha Reed, the city’s chief operating officer, said there are about 2,000 in-ground pools in Lubbock. If all of those were filled in the span of about 30 days, it would take 2 percent of the city’s water.

The commission reported there are about 15,000 above-ground pools, and filling all of them would take a minimal amount of city water.

Councilman Todd Klein said he supports allowing pools and hot tubs to be filled during Stage 2 restrictions — especially because it could cut into people’s businesses otherwise.

“We don’t want to shut down business as a result of this water issue, he said. “So it’s about balance.”

The commission also reported between six and 10 apartment complexes under construction will not have their pools ready for filling April 1.

District 1 Councilman Victor Hernandez said he does not have a problem with changing the restrictions because it is comparable to what Abilene does.

All Texas cities have different drought restriction plans, but Abilene, which has experienced similar drought levels as Lubbock, does not prohibit filling swimming pools until its fourth stage of restrictions.

Councilman Paul Bean said he wants to stay in line with cities of comparable size to Lubbock.

Mayor Pro Tem Floyd Price said he wants to hold the line with his decisions made last week in the vote to allow all four city pools to open.

At last week’s council meeting, the city allocated $9,000 from general funds to the Parks and Recreation budget to fill two of the city pools before the April 1 deadline.

The cost is associated with chemicals and labor, and the other two pools can be filled with wells located at their respective parks.

Councilman Jim Gilbreath said these changes to the contingency plan are not unexpected because the city is in uncharted territory. The Stage 2 restrictions have not been imposed since they were created in 2005.

“When we adopted these stages we knew at the time that what we were doing is new, unplotted territory, and we were probably going to have to tweak what we came up with,” Gilbreath said.

Reed said the biggest issue with water conservation during the summer has to do with irrigation, and the commission also is looking into loosening restrictions to put less strain on business.

Unrestricted irrigation of new landscape material by an automatic irrigation system or device can occur for three weeks during drought restrictions.

The commission recommended to the council to extend that amount of time, but said it had to do more research on the ideal amount.

Gibson, the only council member at Thursday’s commission meeting, said some landscapers she has spoken with have said it takes a full growing season — about five months — to establish new landscaping.

Jay Taylor, owner of Paradise Lawn and Landscape, said the only type of landscaping to continue with is sod and Bermuda grass. Hydromulching and seed, both cheaper options, would not develop without a consistent water supply.

“To get it established, three weeks is barely enough to get (Bermuda grass) up and going and you’re still taking a risk,” Taylor said.

The commission said it needs to do more research to find a better time frame for irrigation on new landscape, and all of the council members contacted said they would like to do more research, too. Mayor Tom Martin could not be reached for comment.

John Billing, associate professor in Texas Tech’s department of landscape architecture, said it is hard to give a definite time frame for new landscaping to stay viable.

He said it all depends on how hot the temperature is, the types of plants and also the soil.

He imagines all landscapers in the city would want as much time as possible so it wouldn’t hurt their business, but he said people should probably not plan new landscaping projects this summer to help save water.

“If you’re really worried about water conservation, why do that during the summer when you have low humidity, high evaporation and all the issues related to water conservation?” he said.

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Under current Stage 2 restrictions, pools cannot be filled after April 1. The city normally does not fill its four public pools until the last week of May. The council approved a $9,000 budget increase to Parks and Rec for chemicals and labor costs associated with filling the pools early before that April 1 deadline.

The restrictions allow for the topping off of all pools, just not the filling of them. So anyone who fills the pool (private citizens and the city) before April 1 can top off their pools all summer long. If anyone has an empty pool come April 1, they cannot (legally) fill it until after Sept. 30 or until restrictions are lowered.

This proposed ordinance would simply delay any pool restrictions into Stage 3. If the council passes this ordinance, and the city stays in Stage 2 this summer, everyone can fill, drain and refill their pools all summer long.

If enforcement is not given to the Lubbock police dept. and fines are not levied, then the restrictions do not matter. Many of the violators run their sprinklers during hours that city employees don't work or on weekends.
I have called the city water line about violators and nothing has changed, just an answering machine that says they will call you back but they never do. Only if the enforcement is broad and a officer can issue a ticket that is followed by a fine can we get a handle on the water waste problem. Fines must increase drastically with each violation. In the thousands of dollars!

If and when the city makes it illegal to fill pools there will be a company that hauls water in via semi tanker truck for a charge. Most likely it will be someone in the pool business that alreday knows a majority of pool owners. This water that is "hauled in" will be pumped from a well some where in Lubbock county. While not coming directly from the Lubbock water supply chain, it's still depleting our local water supply.

This whole talk about water restriction rules is a joke. The council will keep changing the rules to appease businesses and homeowners that are campaign contributors, since this is an election year for some on the council. Saving water is saving water, regardless whether it is from a well or a city pipeline

Seems to me that there is a big difference in filling a pool for family and a few friends as opposed to filling a pool that is used by several hundred citizens/taxpayers.
We all see waste every day with water running down the street or sprinklers watering the street. That should be stopped, but public use of water in not necessarily bad or waste.

Seems to me that there is a big difference in filling a pool for family and a few friends as opposed to filling a pool that is used by several hundred citizens/taxpayers.
We all see waste every day with water running down the street or sprinklers watering the street. That should be stopped, but public use of water in not necessarily bad or waste.

Heaven forbid that water-wasting Lubbock businesses be impacted by a critical water shortage!

IMO Lubbock needs to discourage water use, even after the Lake Alan Henry pipeline is complete. We need codes that mandate low maintenance landscaping for all new construction. If a business uses a lot of water, then we do not want that business!

As Aquaman pointed out, enforcement is a big problem. Even if Code Inspectors and police officers are empowered to ticket violators, most violators will not be cited; it's like drug trafficking, if we intercept 30%, we think we are doing well, which is a fool's outlook.

There is a simple way of encouraging water economy, and that is through the water bill. Have a low rate on the first 3000 gallons per household or business per month, then take off from there to $.15/gal, then to .25. Self enforcing, except for gypsy water trucks, who we can regulate more easily than citizens.

Well, now that they are easing the water restrictions on filling and draining pools it's time to redo the weekly watering schedule also. Right now we are limited to a certain day of the week. Ever hear of something called a "West Texas wind"???? When my watering day comes and the wind is blowing too much to water, I don't think it is fair to expect me to wait another week to water and let my lawn die. I don't mind limiting my watering to one day a week, but the schedule should be odd number addresses can water Monday, Wednesday OR Friday...even numbers on Tuesday, Thursday OR Saturday. That way you can adjust accordingly to the weather and still stay within the "once a week" limits. We need to let the people making up the rules know that it's not rocket science...a workable schedule can be worked out and still be fair about it.

Another thought just came to me. Since the water usage is going to diminish, does that mean our water rates are going to increase because LPL will not be getting their fair share? It happened years ago...what's to stop them from doing it again? I'm just saying.

I don't think water use will diminish much. Open, flagrant water waste like watering gutter and sidewalks will, but I predict overall usage will not fall by more than 30%.

Sure, householders can take "submariner showers" where they wet themselves, turn off the shower, soap and scrub, then turn on the shower to rinse. Water running 3-5 minutes. But how many Lubbockites will do that?

Water use is engrained in our habits and appliances.

About the guy quoted above as saying that a "bath" invlves drawing 70 gallons of water: balderdash! I take a hot soaking bath in no more than 10 gallons, about 4 inches of water in a 1920s vintage clawfoot tub. If you fill up a bathtub you can't soap and scrub effectively! In 60 years, I have bathed in a full tub maybe a dozen times, and that includes hot tubs.

Modern bathtubs are made for users in the 300-400 pound range and require more water, besides being less safe in a number of ways, but still you don't need to fill the durn things to take a nice bath.

4" of bathwater and a smaller tub btw could have saved the life of a celebrity recently. :(